In a behind-closed-doors friendly game this afternoon United’s reserves beat their Wycombe counterparts 3-1. United went behind to an Andy Bell penalty early in the second half, but Adam Garner equalised after 66 minutes.

United enjoyed most of the possession and dominated the game, but it wasn’t until the last three minutes that Oxford made the game safe. Triallist Darren Watson scored twice to give Oxford the victory.

As well as Watson, United also included Gary Hateley, another triallist, in goal. A number of first team players also got a game to increase their levels of fitness, including Andy Scott, James Hunt and ROS Chris Hackett, who all featured for the first team at Cheltenham last night. Jamie Brooks played the full 90 minutes, the first time he has lasted the complete match since his illness, and Danny Brown, Paul McCarthy, David Oldfield and Julian Alsop all featured. Even Darren Patterson managed eight minutes at the end.